Nov. 17 2009 – 3:04 pm – True Slant
Fifty people gathered around Lenise Forrest’s home in the Cabrini rowhouses, asking a very pertinent question: “Where’s our bailout?”
They gathered to stop Lenise from being evicted and to start a new movement – the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign. They say they’re going to stop any eviction in the city that’s happening because of a person’s economic means. The rich got bailed out, they say. We will not be put out.
The sheriff was supposed to come at 9 a.m., but he never came. Word among volunteers was that the press attention had scared him off. Perhaps tomorrow. But hopefully, a settlement will be reached before then.
Lenise got two calls from the housing authority, she says. One asking if she still had the lump sum to start her payment arrangement (She doesn’t – she’s been unemployed for six months and used that money to pay the rest of her bills and buy food for her family), and the second saying they were going to review her records as a tenant and get back to her.
So, again, we’ll see. But it’s looking a little brighter than it did yesterday. And either way, Lenise is surrounded by a community that won’t let her end up out on the street.
[Vimeo http://vimeo.com/7669095]
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